Ranking the Five Best and Worst Teams (Part 2 and 3)

In Part 1, I ranked all 16 teams that have played in the top flight of the K-League, which was re-branded as the K-League Classic in 2012. Now, I will look at how the five league winners stack up against each other. I will also see how the five last place teams for the last five years compare as well. First, I will start with the dross. Part II- K-League Classic's Worst Teams 2011-2015

Daejeon Citizen might be the worst team over the course of five years, but what is the worst team in a single season? Gangwon FC finished last in 2011, Sangju Sangmu in 2012 and 2014, and Daejeon Citizen in 2013 and 2015. Here is a table of how poorly each performed.

K-League’s Worst Teams: 2011-2015

Year

Team

P

W

L

D

GF

GA

Pts.

Avg. Pts

2011

Gangwon FC

30

3 (10%)

6 (20%)

21 (70%)

14 (0.47)

45 (1.50)

15 (17%)

0.5

2012

Sangju Sangmu*

44

7 (16%)

6 (14%)

31 (70%)

29 (0.97 29/30)

74** (2.0 60/30)

27 (30% 27/90)

0.9 (30 gms)

2013

Daejeon Citizen

38

7 (18%)

11 (29%)

20 (53%)

37 (0.97)

68 (1.79)

32 (28%)

0.84

2014

Sangju Sangmu

38

7 (18%)

13 (34%)

18 (47%)

39 (1.03)

62 (1.63)

34 (30%)

0.89

2015

Daejeon Citizen

38

4 (11%)

7 (18%)

27 (71%)

32 (0.97)

72 (1.89)

19 (17%)

0.5

* Forfeited 14 games

** 14 games lost 2-0 due to forfeit

If I had to rank the worst teams in the last five years, they would be as follows:

2011 Gangwon FC

2015 Daejeon Citizen

2013 Daejeon Citizen

2012 Sangju Sangmu

2014 Sangju Sangmu

In my opinion, I would say the worst team ever in the K-League would be the Gangwon FC squad from 2011. They only won three games and averaged less than half a goal a game. To score only fourteen goals in one season is abysmal.

I was curious about how bad their season was, so via soccerway.com, I looked at the results for the 30 games they played. Gangwon lost their first seven games to open the season and were outscored by their opponents 12 to 1. In fact, they did not score their first goal until the seventh game of the year, a 3-1 loss to Ulsan. It took Gangwon 584 minutes before they found the back of the net, which I am sure felt like an eternity for the players.

After that, they did a bit better. Gangwon drew against Pohang in the 8th game 0-0 and finally picked up a win in the 13th game, 1-0 against Busan. After that, they proceeded to lose their next eight games in a row, conceding 17 goals while only scoring 3 in that period. Still, they did manage to win two more games later in the season though.

I think Sangju Sangmu in 2012 deserve an asterisk because they were forced to forfeit their final 14 games. Who knows how their season would have turned out? They probably would have been relegated, but they might not have conceded 74 goals that year.

I think Daejeon in 2013 and Sangju in 2014, while being terrible, were probably a bit better to watch than Gangwon FC in 2011 since they both averaged around a goal a game. Daejeon in 2015 was pretty damn close to matching Gangwon for futility, but I would argue that beating Suwon Samsung and averaging close to a goal a game makes them a slightly better team.

Part III- K-League Classic's Best Teams

K-League Champions: 2011 to 2015

Year

Team

P

W

L

D

GF

GA

Pts.

Avg. Pts

2011

Jeonbuk

30

18 (60%)

9 (30%)

3 (10%)

67 (2.23)

32 (1.07)

63 (70%)

2.1

2012

FC Seoul

44

29 (66%)

9 (20%)

6 (14%)

76 (1.72)

42 (0.95)

96 (73%)

2.18

2013

Pohang

38

21 (55%)

11 (29%)

6 (16%)

63 (1.66)

38 (1.0)

74 (65%)

1.95

2014

Jeonbuk

38

24 (63%)

9 (24%)

5 (13%)

60 (1.58)

22 (0.58)

81 (71%)

2.13

2015

Jeonbuk

38

22 (58%)

7 (18%)

9 (24%)

57 (1.5)

39 (1.03)

73 (64%)

1.92

Here is how I would rank them.

2012 FC Seoul

2011 Jeonbuk

2014 Jeonbuk

2013 Pohang

2015 Jeonbuk

What stands out most is how the goals for average has dropped every year for the champion. From a high of 2.23 in 2011 to a low of 1.5 in 2015. Also, I think that if a team does not collect at least sixty-five percent of the points available, then it is most likely not going to be the champion. In 2015, Jeonbuk got 64%, which I think demonstrates the parity of the league last year and how close the teams are to one another in strengths and weaknesses.

Looking at 2011, Jeonbuk won 60% of their games that year, collected 70% of the points available, and averaged 2.23 goals a game. That is pretty damn good. In 2012, Seoul bettered Jeonbuk in winning percentage, percentage of points available collected, and average points won, but averaged half a goal less than them. It is difficult to say which team is better.

Statistically, Jeonbuk in 2011 were better and I would say the league was as far as quality wise, the league was probably at its apex. The teams that came in below them, Pohang, FC Seoul, and Suwon Samsung, were also stacked with talent and would probably walk to the title in 2015. However, if not for a bad start and Kim Yong-dae gifting two goals to Ulsan in the playoffs, I think Seoul would have won the title that year.

That is why I would say that FC Seoul in 2012 have been the best team in the last five years. They were stacked from top to bottom. Up front they had the league's best partnership in Dejan and Molina, there were Ha Dae-sung and Koh Myong-jin in the midfield, and Adi, Kim Jin-kyu, and Kim Ju-young formed a solid nucleus in the back. Since then though, I think the quality of the league and the champions themselves has deteriorated.

Jeonbuk in 2014 were quite strong defensively, but they were not as formidable offensively as past Jeonbuk teams in 2011, 2012, and 2013. To concede only half a goal a game for the whole season is an amazing defensive feat, but I would put a lot of that down to the lack of offense and firepower on teams league wide. That is why I have FC Seoul in 2012 and Jeonbuk in 2011 above them.

In 2013, Pohang won the championship but failed to win 60% of their games or average more than two points a game. I have always thought they were a weak champion and quite lucky that Ulsan choked down the stretch and lost their last two games in the final minute. That being said, I would say that Jeonbuk in 2015 were even weaker and quite lucky that in 2015 there were no strong teams.

I think what stands out most for me is how the champions get weaker, particularly on offense, every single year. Next, I will look at the top offensive and defensive teams over the last five years.

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